Method of making a pen point



Feb. 18, 1936. H. J. ,HALPIN ET AL.

METHOD OF MAKING A PEN POINT v Filed June 25, 1952 NTORS Y: ATTORNEYS Patented Feb. 18, 1936 UNITED "STATES METHOD or MAKING A PEN POINT Harry J. Halpin, Camden, and Lloyd S. Henwood, Merchantville, N. J., assignors to C. Howard Ilunt Pen Company, tron of New Jersey Camden, N. J., a corpora- Application June 25, 1932, Serial No. 619.248

2 Claims.

This invention relates to pen points and their manufacture, the invention being especially useful in connection with the production of points having long life and good wearing qualities, for example, of the type suitable for fountain pens.

In order to clarify certain features herein dis closed, the following comments with respect to the state -of the art and certain difiiculties and disadvantages heretofore encountered should be noted.

In accordance with well established practice, pen points adapted for use in fountain pens are generally classifiable in two groups, as follows: first, points made of precious metals, such as gold and adapted for use in relatively expensive fountain pens; and second, points made of brass, or other copper alloy, or some gold plated metal, and adapted for use in relatively inexpensive fountain pens.

The pen points of the second group are commonly manufactured under someprocess at least similar to that usually followed in the production of what has become well known as steel pens of the type ordinarily employed in desk pen holders, and it should be noted that probably the most outstanding disadvantage of the usual inexpensive fountain pen point is its poor wearing qualities or short life.

Certain attempts have been made to increase the life of pen points of this particular class, among which might be mentioned the formation, in the nib of the pen, of a small depression, indentation or ball. While a ball tipped pen has slightly better wearing qualities than one with a perfectly plain or straight point, at the same time, this type of pen is subject to a number of 'disadvantages some of which are mentioned just below.

In the first place, since the formation of ..a .ball at the tip of the pen does not increase the thickness of metal present, the improvement in wearing qualities is only very slight.

As an additional disadvantage, it should be noted that the ball tipped pen, especially when the writer or user normally holds his pen at a relatively steep angle, very quickly becomes worn off at the tip to such an extent that a sharp knife edge is produced and this, in turn, results in sticking during writing, especially on the up strokes. On the other hand, if the user or writer normally holds his pen at a relatively low angle, the ball very quickly becomes worn to such an extent that the surface or contact area is increased beyond reasonable or practical limits and the pen will no longer produce anything but a very heavy line.

To overcome the foregoing difiiculties it has also been proposed to bend back or double the thickness of the metal at the tip of the pen, but this proposal has not been effective or practical for a. number of reasons brought out herebelow. In general, these reasons are three-fold: reasons relating to method or process steps, reasons relating to the manufacturing apparatus, and rea- 'sons relating to use of materials not suited to the purpose.

The present invention is primarily concerned with the production of a pen point having a bent back or doubled tip, and before considering the difilculties heretofore encountered and the man-- ner in which they have been overcome in accordance with the present invention, reference should be made to the accompanying drawing, in which-- Figure 1 is a plan view of a pen blank stamped from suitable sheeting;

Figure 2 is a side elevational view of a point which has been raised or rounded;

Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 2 showing the tip portion of the nib bent under to double the thickness thereof and provide a. tip of rounded configuration;

Figure 4 is a top or face view of the pen shown inFigure 3, this view also illustrating a slitting operation which follows the bending of the tip;

Figure 4a is a view similar to Figure 4 but showing a modified arrangement;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary side elevational view of portions of a slitting mechanism which I pref erably employ; and

Figure 6 is an elevational view taken from the right of the parts shown in Figure 5.

As in the manufacture of the common desk or steel pens, We first stamp out a fiat pen point blank I, the stamping preferably being from sheet or strip stock readily available commercially. In the manufacture of the common or ordinary'steel pen, the strip or sheet stock employed is formed of carbon steel and, as will appear more fully hereinafter, the various process steps ordinarily employed in the production of steel pen points necessitates heat treatment of the metal in various ways, between certain process steps, in order to produce a point having the proper configuration and at the same time the desired resilience or springability and the like.

. In contrast to this, we follow out a different series of process steps and employ a very tough and acid resistant steel sheeting from which the pens are blanked. We prefer to employ stainless" steel, or some chromium-nickel alloy steel,

lows: chromium 13 nickel 8%, with the balance mostly iron.

To proceed with the steps of the present invention, the stainless steel blanks v(either during or subsequent to the blank forming operation) are preferably provided with piercings or apertures, such as indicated by the numeral 8 in Figure 1, at the base of the nib. The pierced blank is then raised or bent to a generally rounded pen-like form, and a point in this condition is illustrated in Figure 2, it being noted in connection' with both Figures 1 and 2 that the point 9 of the nib is quite narrow and yet of relatively great length.

The next operation involves a bending back or doubling of the tip 9 to the position indicated at 9a in Figure 3, this tip being pressed with considerable force soas to bring about intimate contact between the two portions of the doubled part. This bent point, as shown in Figure 3, thus provides a writing tip of nicely rounded configuration and also of considerable thickness.

Proceeding to the showing of Figure 4, it will be seen that the nib of the pen has been slit at Ill from the aperture 8 to and through the tip portion 9a. For the purpose of performing this slitting operation we prefer to use a shear mechanism of the character illustrated in Figures 5 and 6. By reference to these views it will be seen that the structure includes a pair of knives H and I2 which have cooperating slitting edges l3 and M, respectively, extended at a' slight angle to each other so as to produce a shearing action. While somewhat similar slitting mechanisms have been employed heretofore, for example, in

the manufacture of common steel pen points, it

should be noted that, in accordance with this invention, one of the knives (the lower one in the embodiment illustrated) is provided with an enlarged and/or rounded top edge IS on which the raised or rounded pen points I are adapted to seat. The other knife 2) carries a gripping element I6 at one side thereof as by means of bolts IT. The gripping element I6 is formed with an elongated slot or aperture H3 in order to provide for generally vertical movement of the part IS with respect to the knife l2. A spring l9, also carried by the knife l2, serves to exert downward pressure on the upper end of the gripping device l6, and the latter element is further preferably formed with a rounded gripping surface 20 adapted to engage the pen points I when the knives come together. It will be noted, particularly from inspection of Figure 5, that the gripping surface 20 parallels the cutting edge 13 of knife ll, so as rigidly to grip the pen points 1. Since the pen points I are gripped or engaged over a relatively extended area, they areaccurately maintained in the proper position for slitting, it being especially noted that this gripphig device prevents tilting or rocking of the pen points during the slitting operation. The edge of the knife l3 is recessed as indicated at 13a to at least partially accommodate the double thickness tip and further to aid in maintaining the pens in proper position during slitting.

To consider the advantages of this particular arrangement, it should be observed that with the ordinary steel pen point, with a tip composed of'asingle thickness of metal, the slitting operating may be and is at present carried out without the use of any gripping device. However, in the manufacture of pen points in accordance with this invention, the increased thickness of the tip of the nib, if slit with the ordinary type of slitting device, would result in rocking of the pen point during the slitting operation and thus the production of alaterally angled or inclined slit. This, in turn, would result in the formation of a tip in which the parts of the nib at opposite sides of the slit would beof irregular width. The narrow nib part, of course, would very quickly become worn to such an extent as to produce a sharp or knife edge and, in addition to this disadvantage, a writing point having irregular, wide and narrow, tip parts produces irregular and deformed lines.

However, with the method and apparatus of this invention, we are enabled to accurately slit the nib of a pen having a double thickness tip andthus produce a writing point with uniform or regular tip parts at opposite sides of the slit.

Another point to be considered in connection with the foregoing is the fact that when an inclined or irregular slit is produced, the nib of the pin is materially weakened, this being especially true of the portion thereof which is bent double, since the double thickness tip is twisted and distorted during slitting. In consequence, the bent portion'of one or both tip parts breaks off. This condition is at least in part responsible for the fact that it has been impossible heretofore to manufacture a pen of the character herein contemplated.

Still another important factor to consider relates to the treatment of the metal from which the pen is made and the process steps followed in accordance with this invention, as compared to the production of pens by prior methods. In the well accepted procedure for manufacturing steel pen points a carbon steel is ordinarily employed and treated in accordance with the following steps:

(a) A flat pen point blank is stamped from the metal sheeting.

(b) Either during or after the blanking operation, the nib of the. pen is pierced.

(0) Following these operations the blanks are annealed by heat treatment.

(d) While in the annealed or softened condition the blanks are raised or stamped to the usual rounded pen-like form.

(e) The raised pens are heat treated to harden the metal. a

(f) After hardening the pens are tempered.

(g) The nibs of thehardened and tempered pens are slit.

Where the pen being produced is of the ball pointed type, a slight indentation is formedin the tip of the nib, as by a stamping operation, and this operation may be performed between steps (0) and (e), or after step (9).

There are, of course, some additional polish ing, grinding and lacquering steps ordinarily followed, and while this procedure has been found to be satisfactory for manufacturing either ball pointed or straight pointed pens (i. e., pens with or without an indentation at the tip of the nib), it is entirely unsuitable for the production of pens of the character to which the present invention relates.

Before considering the reasons why such process is unsuitable to the manufacture of a pen having a doubled nib portion, it is noted that in accordance with the present-invention, a relatively tough steel such as stainless steel is employed, and the following PIOCBSS steps are 081'- ried outihe encountered in conditioned as by heat treatment, hardening and the like inorder to give the metal all the physical characteristics and properties desired in the finished pen point.

(D) Flat-penblanks are stamped from sheet! ing of the completely treated metal.

(c) If desired, piercing is performed either during or after blanidng. Y

(at) me pen blank is bent double at its tip in order 'to provide the double thickness writing I point herein contemplated.

(e) The blanks are raised to bring-them into rounded pen .form.

(I) The nibs of the pens are slit by the apparatus above considered and in accordance with the method herein disclosed.

We have found that by following this procedure we are enabled to produce pen points of long life having strong tip portions of double thickness. In addition, we have, found that this result cannot be obtained by following the procedure of prior practice. If an attempt be made to bend the tip back on itself when following the manufacturing process heretofore adopted, such bending operation would necessarily be performed between the softening and hardenin steps (0) and (e) of the prior practice referred to above, since it involves considerable distortion of the metal at the tip. However, we have found that the heat treatment of steps (e) and (f), to harden and temper the metal, result in serious weakening of the tip at its bent portion. In consequence, the portion of the nib which has been bent back would break off either in handling subsequent to'the hardening operation, or during the slitting operation which, of course, must follow the tempering step. 7 At this point, attention is again called to other dimculties .which would accordance with the slitting operation of prior practice. all as fully discussed above.

In accordance with this invention, thereforeby emp ying a relatively tough steel alloy as the material from which the pens are produced, me by treating this alloy to give it the proper resilience before actually pen therefrom, we are enabled to produce a penpoint of materially improved characteristics,v especially'as to wearing qualities. so that such points may be employed in fountain pens.

Still another characteristic of the pen itself is the fact that, by following our improved .method of manufacture, including gripping the nib at a point closely adjacent to the slit to be formed,

.the portions'of the tip which are bent under normallyremaininclcsecontactwitheachother stamping and'forming the and in accurate alignment, when the pen is not being used, the result of this being considerably improved smoothness in use.

This is also true, of the modification shown in Figure 4a, in which the point 7a is provided with a slit 10a of increased width in the region between the nib aperture 80 and the bent under tip 917. Indeed, we have found that this form of pen is particularly effective and desirable because of the improved flow. of ink to the paper fromthe slit of increased width to'and through the tip parts of the nib which are normally in contact witheach other. It will be seen that with this arrangement, the ink flows downwardly or is drawn by capillary action toward the tip slightly above the actual writing point'and then is drawn directly downwardly between the bent tip parts to the paper.

We claim:-

1. The method of manufacturing pen points of the type having a'tip bent to increase the thickness thereof; which method includes treating a chromium-nickel alloy steel to make the metal hard and springy; forming a flat pen point blank from the metal; after treatment in the manner referredto, and without intervening process steps appreciably affecting the characteristics of the alloy, bringing portions of the metal at the tip of the pen into planes substantially parallel to each other by bending the metal, to provide increased thickness at the tip; and thereafter, and without other intervening process steps appreciably affecting the characteristics of the alloy, slitting the nib of the pen including'its tip.

2. The method of manufacturing pen points of the type having a tip bent toincrease the thickness thereof; which method includes treating a.

chromium-nickel alloy steel to make the metal hard and springy; forming a flat pen point blank from the metal having a part lying in the plane of the blank adjacent the tip but projecting beyond the marginal outline of .the pen being formed; after treatment in the manner referred to, and without intervening process steps appreciably aifecting the characteristics of the alloy,

displacing said projecting part in a direction.

transverse to the'originalplane of the blank by bending substantially along said marginal ,outline, whereby to increase the depth of metal at the tip of the pen and therefore the thickness of the writing tip; and thereafter, and without other intervening process steps appreciably affooting the characteristics of the alloy, slitting including its tip.

. HARRY J.HALPIN.

LLOYD S. HENWOOD.

the nib of the pen 

